Casey Anthony reacts to being found not guilty on murder charges at the Orange County Courthouse Orlando, Fla. on July 5, 2011. At left is her attorney Jose Baez. On the right is attorney Dorothy Clay Sims. (Red Huber, Orlando Sentinel)

Forget about NBA and NFL lockouts, the only court case athletes seemed to be interested in following July 5 was the infamous Casey Anthony trial verdict.

A jury found Orlando resident Casey Anthony not guilty of murdering her late two-year-old daughter Caylee Anthony. The controversial decision didn’t sit well with several in the sports world who offered up their thoughts and opinions on twitter.

Perhaps, two of the more interesting perspectives came from former Orlando Magic guard Gilbert Arenas and UCF guard Jeff Jordan.

@agentzeroshow – To be honest who won??..there’s still a dead child!!!

@Heirjordan13 (Jeff Jordan) – “Had she gotten the death penalty, anybody that got accused of murder with no evidence could get it… #innocentuntilprovenguilty.”

It’s a sad thought, but why do I feel like the next moves for Casey Anthony include a seven-figure dollar book deal, movie and reality show?

Other thoughts and opinions from sports figures in the twitter world…

@kevinsmith34 (Kevin Smith) – Wow My prayers go out to everybody involved in the trial especially the family who lost a baby gurl#Sad

@mrvincecarter15 – Casey might want to move out of Florida like ASAP!!

@Roycelr (Royce Reed) -Omg this [expletive] is going home!!!! Hell no! Wtf! She better move to her own island!

@ochocinco – Dear @CNN am I hearing things correctly but I believe i heard the words #NotGuilty uttered numerous times.I could be mistaken just asking? I’ve no idea how the judicial system works my input and opinion means nothing but I’ll simply sum this case up as WOW!!!!!!

“With what they’ve got structured here, I mean this is an unbelievable situation. I hope they go to the Big East, I really do,” said Memphis coach Josh Pastner. “Because they’re a really good basketball team. Very well coached, good guys and they’re getting really great recruits and they played great tonight.

“So, uh, I don’t have any weight, but I’m all for them going to another conference,” Pastner said jokingly as his team fought from behind in the second half.

The Big East seems like a big jump for UCF men’s basketball right now, but who knows what the future holds five years from now?

It would be easy to write off the UCF men’s basketball team now that the team is on an eight-game losing streak after an impressive 14-0 start. But of the past eight games, just three were double digit losses.

UCF was one bad possession away from beating Memphis Wednesday and led for much of the second half. Obviously, there is much room for growth here, but I see potential in what Donnie Jones is attempting to build.

The Sacramento Mountain Lions' QB Daunte Culpepper, reacts during the 2nd quarter of a United Football League game against the Florida Tuskers on Thursday, October 21, 2010 at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla. (Joshua C. Cruey \ Orlando Sentinel)

Minnesota Star Tribune reporter Michael Rand conducted an e-mail interview with former UCF QB great Daunte Culpepper and a few interesting questions stood out about his future with the NFL.

From the Tribune:

Q: You’re still a young guy — just about to turn 34. What do you think the future has in store for you when it comes to football?

A: Hopefully this offseason I will get another invitation from the Vikings to at least come in for a sit-down visit! If not, I am hearing that I proved quite a bit playing this season [with Sacramento] in the UFL. Did you see some of my highlights? Coach [Dennis] Green has truly helped me recapture my passion for just playing the game.

Q: Were you surprised at all that the Vikings — now that Childress is gone — didn’t call you up this week when they were having such a QB shortage?

A: To be honest, I made the decision when I signed with the UFL that I would not be interested in another “sign and play” deal like I had in Detroit in 2008. I let the NFL know that in the event that there would be a need at QB after my UFL season, I would not be interested. Playing quarterback these days takes an entire offseason of preparation if you want to be successful. I feel bad about the injuries to Tarvaris and Brett, and I will be cheering on whoever plays quarterback Monday night. Skol Vikings!

To recap what Culpepper has accomplished with the venerable UFL Sacramento Mountain Lions: Culpepper led the Mountain Lions to a 4-4 finish in the five-team UFL league. He completed 183 passes of 300 attempts for 1,944 yards in eight games and was tied for first in the league with 10 touchdown passes.

In an earlier interview for the UFL website Daunte Culpepper said he’d be happy to rejoin coach Dennis Green in Sacramento in 2011 should he choose not to sign with an NFL team. Culpepper, who represents himself as an agent/player, did not indicate which teams had expressed interest.

“I expect that if I choose not to sign with a NFL team in this coming offseason, then I will be more than happy to re-sign with Sacramento. I love playing the game and I have a lot of football left in me,” Daunte Culpepper said.

Brett Favre is done in Minnesota this season. Tarvaris is out. So should the Minnesota Vikings choose to consider calling up Daunte Culpepper?

Daunte Culpepper (L) pictured at UFL game and Michael Lynche (R) is a former UCF football player. Photos by Orlando Sentinel and Fox

Former UCF football players Daunte Culpepper and Michael Lynche are scheduled to join the Orlando Citrus Parade festivities Dec. 30.

Daunte Culpepper will serve as the parade’s Grand Marshall, while Lynche, a former American Idol finalist, will give on-street commentary for the nationally broadcast event hosted by E! host Giuliana Rancic and her husband Bill Rancic.

The parade features floats made entirely of Florida citrus tangerines, oranges and grapefruit. High school marching bands, marching bands from Capital One Bowl schools, Alabama and Michigan State, high-stepping equestrian units and dance teams will also participate.

Looks like former UCF quarterback Daunte Culpepper is getting comfortable again with his old stomping grounds. Nice.

Central Florida basketball players Jeff Jordan, left, and Marcus Jordan, share a laugh before being introduced with the rest of the team during the first half of UCF and Rice in Orlando, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010.

UCF football is having a 1997-like season so you know that means…conference invitation rumors.

The Knights along with TCU and Villanova have had their names tossed around as potential invitees to the Big East Conference. But as my co-worker Iliana Limon reported last week the Big East is apparently interested in expanding its football teams only, not adding to its powerhouse 16-team men’s basketball programs.

And that should be a major sigh of relief for UCF men’s basketball. The Knights are still working to find solid footing in Conference USA, can you imagine building a program while competing against Connecticut, Georgetown and St. John’s?

ESPN men’s college basketball analysts Dick Vitale and Jay Bilas weighed in with their thoughts on UCF basketball and the impact Michael Jordan’s sons will have this season during a conference call Tuesday.

“I think obviously their level of play has got to better if you’re talking about if you’re talking about playing on a higher level. I don’t know about the Big East, I really don’t know, I don’t think that’s gonna happen anytime quickly. I think right now they’re trying to get their own identity right here in Orlando and certainly Donnie Jones has a lot of the Billy Donovan work ethic, recruiting ability and bottom line is he’s gotta get some players and you’re dealing in a state where certainly Florida, Florida State, Miami is improved. Basketball has gotten better in our state over the last decade it’s gotten better and better because obviously it’s a dominant football state.”

Jay Bilas on Jordan brothers and Big East talk

“I think the Jordan brothers will be good for Central Florida. You know, I watched Marcus play in high school and worked with him a little bit at the LeBron James skills academy when he played there and watched Jeff play when he was at Illinois. Neither one of them are great basketball players, but they both play really hard and are good teammates. I think they’ll do a good job there.”

“I tend to agree with Dick. I don’t know what’s going to happen conference wise, I don’t think that the conference realignment that we saw last summer is over yet. I think we’re going to go through another round of that and I don’t know exactly when it’s going to be or what shape it’s going to take, but it’s not over. Football, it seems like, winds up driving the bus in the decision making process, but you know, you go into a league like the Big East where some teams have football, some teams don’t…that league is brutal. Especially if you’re coming in there and don’t have the tradition in that league, that league started in the late 70s. The teams that have gotten in there as of late, DePaul is having a very difficult time making it in that league. So it’d be an uphill climb, you’d have to be ready for a long slog when you play games. It’d change recruiting, but you don’t know whether it’d change it for the better or make it even more difficult. That would be a really tough decision I think.”

Breaking news…. ESPN doesn’t actually own the television rights to every college and professional sports game. Conference USA extended its television contract with CBS sports for six additional years through June 2016.

“We are excited to continue our great partnership with CBS College Sports Network,” said Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky. “We have been able to grow together, and we are delighted to announce this extension. The future is very bright for us.”

UCF guard Marcus Jordan is not feeling the love for the Kobe Bryant-Michael Jordan comparisons.

With Kobe Bryant clinching his fifth NBA championship Thursday, the commentators quickly turned the conversation to Bryant’s place in NBA history. Many have projected that Kobe Bryant, who is just 31-years-old, has the chance to surpass Michael Jordan’s six NBA titles.

Barring the return of the Lakers’ coach Phil Jackson, the Lakers are again the heavy favorites for the 2010-11 season.

NO ONE…And I mean NO ONE should EVER com par kobe Bryant to my dad an say that he is anywhere near close to my dad He’s jagging this game

Don’t get me wrong Kobe is one of the best in the league…. Just no where near my dad…good game right here tho

I’m going to have to agree with the kid on this one. No matter how many titles Kobe Bryant wins, the legacy of Michael Jordan’s impact on the game will always surpass Kobe’s. Jordan’s impact on global marketing alone will never be touched.

Former NFL quarterback Daunte Culpepper, talks to reporters about his signing with the United Football Leagues's Sacramento Mountain Lions at a news conference in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, June 9, 2010. Culpepper, a three-time NFL Pro Bowl player, played for the Minnesota Vikings, Miami Dolphins, Oakland Raiders and Detroit Lions in his 11 year NFL career.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Could the Florida Tuskers have been led by Daunte Culpepper?

Absolutely.

Tuskers coach Jay Gruden said the organization was “absolutely going to pursue Daunte,” but another team had rights to signing him first, the Omaha Nighthawks.

“It would have been great to have Daunte because he’s a local fan favorite,” Gruden said. “But we’re happy to have Brooks [Bollinger] no doubt about it.”

The Omaha Nighthawks missed out on the 33-year-old Pro Bowl quarterback as well since Daunte Culpepper expressed his preference to play under Dennis Green’s leadership with the Sacramento Mountain Lions. Green, a former head coach for the Minnesota Vikings, previously worked with Culpepper. Former UCF coach Mike Kruczek also serves as the Mountain Lions’ offensive coordinator.

Don’t feel bad for the Nighthawks, though. They recently signed Pro Bowl running back Ahman Green, who competed for Nebraska from 1995-97.

The Florida Tuskers will host Omaha at the Citrus Bowl Friday, Nov. 5 and Daunte Culpepper and the Mountain Lions will roll into Orlando for a home game, Thursday October 21.

Sounds like the UFL is getting some pretty interesting rosters. Will you watch?